L.A. Mayor Eric Garcetti Proposes Monorail to San Fernando Valley

Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti has proposed building a monorail along the Interstate 405 to connect the San Fernando Valley with West Los Angeles on Tuesday, relieving traffic on one of the world’s busiest and most congested roads.

Garcetti floated the idea on KNX-AM’s “Ask the Mayor” program, according to the Los Angeles Times. He reportedly said that monorails could scale the relatively steep grade of the Sepulveda Pass, which the 405 passes through, while ordinary light rail cannot manage the incline.

Currently, there are numerous bus links between the San Fernando Valley and the rest of Los Angeles. The L.A. Metro Red Line also links the valley to downtown via a station at North Hollywood.

California is not short of new ideas for public transportation. Governor Jerry Brown continues to back the troubled California High-Speed Rail Authority, which intends to link Los Angeles to the San Francisco area through the Central Valley. Tesla CEO Elon Musk is developing the Hyperloop, a new technology that proposes to link the two cities along the Interstate 5 corridor using rail pods launched within a vacuum tube.

However, Californians seem to prefer their cars regardless of available public transportation options. Politicians seem to prefer new rail lines over existing bus lines, which are already heavily subsidized.

The Times notes that the monorail could be funded through sales tax revenues collected under Measure M, which was passed by Los Angeles County voters in November and which is intended to fund transportation projects. However, there have been no steps taken to begin the development or design of a monorail.